Lucy thought for a moment. The gift cost her fabulous amount – $300. Alexey saw that she had tears in her eyes.
“As for the rest, you know everything. I had to punch my way myself, without anyone’s help.”
At these words of her friend, she blushed profusely, she thought that he hardly knows how to cook food, realized why he is always so calm, it is difficult to get out of balance. He has his own special, established opinion. She felt so small; quite a child compared to him and decided to postpone her acquaintance with her father until a more convenient opportunity, which immediately appeared.
Usually, the father returned from work tired and would hardly have reacted positively to the acquaintance. On Sundays, he usually rested: he read or listened to plays and did not approve of his daughter’s choice. He got used to the idea that she was alone, and he would not like Lucy’s plan to marry, especially since her health, as her father thought, “did not allow pulling all the household affairs and taking care of her husband.” In a word, it was necessary to wait.
In early October, when Lucya had already decided to bury the idea of her father’s acquaintance with Alexey, and the investigation was finally confused in the papers, who was the main defendant in the murder of Aleksey’s relative, the father warned his daughter:
“In three days I will have time off for work on the second shift. So do not worry, when I return home later than usual. I replace the ill teacher of history.”
Lucy estimated that after a day off, Saturday and Sunday will follow. So, the day of the meeting can be scheduled for Friday, since the father did not like any guests at the weekend. So, it was decided. Now it remained to warn Alexey about the day and hour so that he does not schedule any other events for Friday.
On Thursday, Lucy called him to work to arrange a meeting; she was on the second shift. He did not take the phone for a long time, probably it was urgent work.
“Hello, I’m listening,” he said distinctly and clearly. “I have an urgent task; I must do it before lunch. Debug new equipment sent from Germany.”
Something was jammed in the receiver and it was difficult to talk.
“Come to my place tomorrow at seven o’clock in the evening. The father will be at home, and I will introduce you. But please do not be late, as I have already warned my father,” Lucya lied, “he does not like being late.”
“Okay, I’ll be at seven.”
“Have agreed,” Lucy has disconnected phone and with relief sighed.
She had not yet warned her father, but she hoped to do so. “Anyway, I’ll say, even if he’s in a bad mood,” she decided to herself.
The working day flew by unnoticed. A new chip, developed by Sveta Erengeld, was introduced into processing and it was necessary to keep under control how manufacturing of products went on the conveyor.
By dinner Lucy had a little headache. The bee buzz of electric motors and fluorescent lamps, to the sound of which she had already become accustomed, was cut short.
Lucy began flipping through the Internet. The implementation of the scheme went slowly. Not all workers immediately realized how to build setting-up. It was especially difficult for the young. Experience was not enough with them, mastering the new technology took more time than the same operation for experienced workers.
A conveyor is not a simple matter. At a hitch or breakdown on one table there was a delay of all course of working process. On that day, the iPads were collected notably less, this means that the earnings of the workers will be rather less, but with the development of the last operation, more wares will be produced, and this will pay off a temporary failure.
Even at the university, Uvarova paid more attention to physics than mathematics. And faced with unfamiliar phenomena, she had to repeatedly access the Internet. They had enough literature in the department on electronics and it was easy for her to comprehend something that was not clear.
Returning home from work, she straight away decided to tell her father about her intention. Her father was busy, as usual, reading books. He drove his fingers through a sheet of thick paper with a lot of holes. Lucya went to his room.
“Dad, my good friend, Alexey Izmailov, will come to us tomorrow. We work together at the factory. He is modest and handsome. Maybe I’ll marry him. I want you to like him. He will be exactly seven.”
“If you want to introduce us, Lucy, I do not mind. I’m interested in who you spend your free time with. I guess Alex will like me. Do you say that you work in a factory together?”
Father spoke slowly, making a stop after each word, so that what he said was better reached the listener.
“Yes, I do. He is a master-adjuster in another department; he graduated from college and is going to study further. He is talented and managed to make two proposals.”
“So, the work is done, the father is warned,” it made her feel better. “We need to think about how best to meet Alex. I’ll cook something delicious. It will be necessary to look great, so that under the eyes without dark circles. He’s attentive and will immediately notice if I’m tired. Hairstyle in the hairdresser, in the first place, will take a lot of time, and secondly, I will have too formal appearance.”
It was decided to make permanent curls at home. On Friday, she worked on the first shift. At the beginning of the working day Alexander Dmitrievich approached her.
“I see, Uvarova, you cope with your duties, if things go on like this, then a quarterly bonus is guaranteed to us. Keep it up, well done!”
Torobov approvingly patted her on the shoulder. She right away wanted to sing. Then Nina Vasilievna approached with a severe air.
“You look very pretty today.”
Lucy was confused. Korbutova, noticing Lucy’s embarrassment, hurried to justify herself.
“As soon as I saw you, I immediately realized that we would work together. Look,” Korbutova showed Lucy in the laptop additional corrections to the schemes. “Pay attention to the notes in red color.”
“If there are any questions, I’ll turn to Razumov.”
“You are right, these are his changes.”
* * *
After work, Lucy went to the supermarket and bought a bottle of vodka, dry Bulgarian wine and some of the products. It was necessary to buy fruit. In the vegetable department she bought pepper, next to her lay grapes and watermelons. A gray-bearded old man jumped to her.
“How do you choose a watermelon? Take this one, probably ripe,” the old man pointed to a large watermelon, lying not far from her. “Here, pay attention, the tail is dry, it means ripe. And knock on it.”
Lucy hit the watermelon with her indexed finger several times; the watermelon rang as if it was empty inside.
“Ok, indeed, the old man is right. This watermelon is ripe.”
Everything that was needed was bought; she paid for the fruit and left the store. It was hard to bear. She called a taxi, comforting herself with the thought that Alex would appreciate her care, and her father wanted to do something nice.
Preparation of dinner did not take much time. For about six hours the banquet was ready.
She fried potatoes with onion and meat. Meat cooked as for shish kebabs, soaked in advance in water with vinegar. She covered a white tablecloth; put wineglasses for wine and vodka, wine glasses for water, plates for the second and salads. Wine and fruit were put in the center of the table. Then she put knives, forks and napkins to each plate. Now she had to change dress and comb her hair.
Lucy wore a glamorous, light pink dress with white chrysanthemums from Piero Moretti. A thin belt emphasized the waist line. She stabbed her hair with tortoiseshell comb, has pinned sapphire brooch of her mother. White Italian sandals, French perfumes and elixir “Nina Ricci” had completed the image.
There was a ring at the door. Lucy rushed to the door and, without asking, opened it. On the threshold stood a neighbor on the staircase – an elderly woman in a colored dressing gown with a small, trembling, gray kitten on her hands.
“Lucy, do you happen to need a kitten?” she whispered.
“No, Nadezhda Sergeevna.”
“Okay. Forgive me, Lucy, what an amazing perfume you have. Where did you buy them?”
“In Moscow,” the girl began to get angry at the intrusiveness of her neighbor. “Sorry, now I’m going to the theater,” she did not know what else to lie, so she did not intelligently close the door right in front of the guest’s nose.
“It remains to have a kitten for a complete happiness,” she thought, and looked at her watch.
Ten minutes later the doorbell rang again. On the threshold stood Alex with a beautiful bouquet of chrysanthemums. A new blue suit, brown shoes, a white with a blue striped shirt, a blue tie with brown strokes from Mastai Ferretti. He brushed his hair and handed her a bouquet.
“Put it in the vase, please,” his words aroused her sympathy.
She let the guest go into the hallway, where he looked self-assured in the mirror.
“Do not worry; my father’s name is Nikolai Nikolaevich. Try to be more polite to him.”
She led Alex to the table, sat him next to her father.
“Lucya told me about you. Pour all a little. I want to drink for our acquaintance.”
She put the flowers in a thin, metal vase of Turkish production in the middle of the table, she sat down beside her. Alex poured the wine in the glasses and, raising his wine glass with champagne, said the speech prepared beforehand:
“I want a word,” he said. “I like your daughter, we work together, and we are going to get married. Let’s drink to our friendship!”
“Alex, you said something early about marriage, I did not give consent,” Lucy interrupted him solemnly. “Engagement is a good thing…”
“And we will not ask you. You go with him and that’s it,” her father said.
She did not expect the collusion to happen so quickly. “It’s even better, we will not wait,” she thought, and barely audible said:
“I do not mind, Alex likes me. The best friend and life partner I do not need.”
“For this we’ll drink,” they all supported happily.
Lucy turned on the receiver, and a smooth melody played. She was courting her father, applying a salad, then the second. Alexey also did not suffer from a bad appetite.
“It turns out, Lucya, you are a great cook,” Alexey praised. “Eat it yourself. I’m a bad gentleman; I do not know how to take care of anything.” He took her plate and put a little salad in it and the second one, poured vodka to everyone and happily said:
“For the meeting!”
The music sounded. Alex was courting everyone. He invited the girl to a dance and poured a little wine into a glass of the future father-in-law.
“I will not interfere with the young,” her father said, and went into his room.
The couple danced and did not notice how her father left them. They forgot that tomorrow they go to work, the melody completely captured the space, and they began to kiss and hug.
“Soon we get married, would you mind?” Alex asked gallantly, hoping for a compliment in his address, since the costume he bought himself in Italy for the euro of the same firm as the tie, cost him a decent amount.
“No. I agreed,” she replied, enjoying the intimate atmosphere.
“You know, I’m a very self-interested person, think it over and over, could you get along with me?”
The words of the guy hurt her. He stayed with Lucy until ten o’clock. They finished their champagne, danced several times. At the beginning of the eleventh, Alexey said:
“The evidences are collected. Soon the court will be. Lieutenant-colonel Kiryanov advises you to come too, to confirm that you were at the post office on the day of encashment.”
“It is necessary, so it is necessary, I will come. Send greetings to the detective Tanya Ivanova.”
Alexey put on his jacket, which had to be removed, as he felt hot.
Lightening disappeared from the apartment, and she went to the balcony to see how he would go out into the corner. A minute later he appeared, stopped a free taxi, got into the car and drove away. She stood on the balcony for a long time, escorting Alexey thoughtfully. She sighed.
“Well, Alexey is not Alain Delon, but he loves me, so I love him, too.” She remembered poems written by her friend, dedicated to her, and opened a poetic notebook. At the top of page it was brightly displayed “For a friend”, and next to it there was a signature of the author:
Friend
The girl was angry with these lines. She began to read the notebook further, trying to find something appropriate to the mood. Finally, stopping her gaze on the amusing poem, she read aloud, standing in the pose in front of the mirror, portraying the poet:
Wedding Bouquet (fable)
Lucy laughed at the irony and humor and read further:
Conversations
Turning over the notebook, she looked for the most vivid and colorful moments. The mood increased significantly, and she continued reading, forgetting about time. She liked the syllable and rhyme, but especially admired that the verse resembled a goblet. Mentally she put in this vase flowers presented by Alexey.
She, as a mathematician and programmer, was familiar with the exact number of characters needed to write poetry and versification. On the basis of mathematical formulas, it would be easy to create more complex figures, which is easy to achieve by following the mathematical logic.
But Lucy was disappointed when she took the next page and realized that the poems were dedicated to the fan-knight in the helmet.
Modern Knights
Such a flowerish poetry gamut she liked more and inspired to talk with Alexey. She dialed his number, but then deleted it.
The autumn evening evoked memories of police visits, interrogations, signing of papers, a meeting with the accused, a private detective and policemen. A gentle breeze stirred the leaves on the street, and it seemed that the leaves tell each other something important and interesting. Her head hurt. She turned off the music, picked it up from the table, and washed the dishes. Having finished her household affairs, she looked into her father’s room, where they sometimes met with Alex. The father slept with the sleep of the righteous. She closed the door and took the first book that fell into her hands and began to read, trying to find in it answers to the worried questions. She read “Walking on Torments” by Tolstoy not for the first time, and knew some places almost by heart.
Thoughts constantly jumped on the poetry of her girlfriend, and this poetic notebook worried more and more. She put the book aside, and her gaze fell on another page. Lucy read carefully:
Fatigue
She was fond of philosophy within the limits of the program of the candidate’s minimum, but these lines were touched for the living.
An example of complex orthopedic treatment of her moral appearance, she laid on verses, hoping to subsequently refer to them as questions arise in her personal life.
But the pressing everyday problems were added with catastrophic speed… They expanded the space and worsened the relationship between subjects of intraplasma reality, facilitating the amendment of the ritual of investigation and the initiation of criminal proceedings for a specific medical examination of all postal employees in order to achieve their full justification and confirmation of alibi.
7. Happy Hours Are Not Watching
That day, Tanya Ivanova laid out on the table their dice and dropped numbers, the significance of which confirmed the correctness of the actions regarding the killer of mail employees. A long term was waiting for him ahead, but Alexey had questions to him, so she called and invited him to come into the office on a confrontation with witnesses and criminalist to prove Zheka’s sanity. At the same time to find out who is to blame for the murder of the second victim. The warrant for the arrest and search, she had already used in these vicissitudes of fate.